Düsseldorf/Siegen. On the last day of the exhibition, Thomas Kellner unveiled a new picture of his series of half-timbered houses of the Siegen industrial area today at the Chamber of Architects of North Rhine-Westphalia. On display is the very nicely renovated house at Stollenweg 2 in Siegen Eiserfeld with open half-timbering.

The exhibition made a guest appearance at the House of Architects in Düsseldorf from the end of May until September 19. In the exhibition were not only Kellner's new works, but also a video, in which his new pictures of the Eiserfeld houses, the pictures of Bernd and Hilla Becher, which they had made in the 50s to 70s, are juxtaposed. The Bechers' book on their half-timbered houses was also on display for the public to gain their own insight into the work of the famous couple. A television report of the WDR television of Lokalzeit South Westphalia gave as video loop view of the work process and also to the Kellner representing Klompching Gallery in New York. Particularly impressive were also, in addition to the otherwise two-dimensional images on the wall, the architectural models of students of the Department of Architecture of the University of Siegen, created in the winter semester 10/11 at the Department of Building History & Historic Preservation, supervised by Prof. Dr. Dr. Karl Kiem.

The exhibition showed Kellner's timeless images of building culture in the Siegerland region. Thomas Kellner's pictures illustrate the process of change of the buildings over the years and show them in their present state. With subtle coloring and a blurred background, the respective half-timbered house is brought into focus and provides insights into the history of the building.

The impetus for this exhibition came from the Siegerland architect Michael Arns from Freudenberg, long-time president of the Chamber of Architects. The building culture of the Siegerland and especially the half-timbered houses of the Siegerland are particularly close to the architect's heart. He mediated the contact to Düsseldorf and is pleased about such a highly frequented exhibition in the House of Architects. Particularly successful and fully booked was also the event Kammer vor Ort, to which the Chamber of Architects from Düsseldorf had invited to the Lyz in Siegen and Kellner could tell in a lecture his very personal story of the half-timbered houses in the Siegerland from the demolition house in Netphen, the Alter Flecken, the Freudenberg City Museum and other houses.

His contribution to the tour in Eiserfeld, originally published in the leaflet, appeared together with a contribution of the present president Ernst Uhing and the existing contribution of Dr. Andrea Gnam in a second edition of Kellner catalog of this series. This time, the contribution by Michael Arns also juxtaposes some of Becher's images with the situations today, making the new catalog a perfectly complemented new edition. The new motif has been published as a special edition with the catalog in an edition of 30 copies and will soon be available via Kellner Online-Shop.

Meanwhile, after stops in Siegen and Düsseldorf, this successful exhibition moves on to the in focus Galerie in Cologne and to the Kunstverein Ebersberg in spring 2023.

Thomas Kellner – Half-timbered houses of the Siegen industrial area today
May 31 – September 19, 2022
AKNW Düsseldorf, Germany 

Architektenkammer NRW
Zollhof 1
DE 40221 Duesseldorf

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Monday to Thursday from 8am to 5pm
Friday from 8am to 1pm

Telephone: +49 (0) 0211 49670
info@aknw.de

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